Apparently there are boring sociopaths

Confessions of a Sociopath: A Life Spent Hiding in Plain Sight by M.E. Thomas

A book told about sociopaths from the perspective of a sociopath? Sounds fascinating. Also the creepy cover pulled me in. Unfortunately I ended up quitting this one halfway through because I was so. freaking. bored. How is it even possible to make a book about sociopaths boring?!

The author writes anonymously, but is a self-professed and professionally diagnosed sociopath. She asserts that 1 in 25 people is a sociopath (I am not sure where this statistic comes from and would like to see the study that asserts this) and says she wants to share how her condition affects her life. It started out very interestingly with Thomas laying down facts of her life that people would be surprised and/or interested in. As someone who grew up mormon and left as a young adult, I was not surprised to see that Thomas is a practicing member of the religion. With congregations full of worshipers who like to think the best of other members and are taught to not ask hard questions, I could definitely see how mormonism could be a fun playing ground for sociopaths.

Although the book promised interesting insight, it quickly lost my attention as the author kept coming back to how charismatic and charming she was instead of actually showing us by telling us stories about her life. If you can’t even charm me to finish reading your book, how charming could you possibly be in real life? Instead I came away with a picture of someone who has delusions of grandeur. No thanks, hard pass.

As to the one in every 25 number… its super quetionable. It comes from old DSM-IV data about Antisocial Personality Disorder, which isn’t a 1 for 1 with sociopathy, and it was pulled from a community sample where 3% one men and 1% of women were diagnosable with APD.

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